


Loving You Is...

by KassandraScarlett



Series: Female Tony Stark Works [13]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, F/M, Feels, Female Tony Stark, Oblivious Tony Stark, Sad Ending, Sad Rhodey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 21:22:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18396608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KassandraScarlett/pseuds/KassandraScarlett
Summary: The universe had one goal: make Rhodey suffer by making Toni suffer.





	Loving You Is...

**Author's Note:**

> I have no excuse for writing this.

  Loving Toni was easy.

  Rhodey had known he was beyond all help when, two years into their friendship, she'd woken up hungover, smiling up at him through bleary eyes and loudly announcing that he was he favourite person in the world, second only to JARVIS. He'd grumbled good-naturedly, but inside he'd been giddy in the face of her obvious adoration. 

  He didn't tell her, of course. Toni had bad luck with relationships, as proven by Sunset Bane and Tiberius Stone. He wasn't about to take the risk of accidentally hurting her. He was also, maybe, just a little bit, scared of having his own heart broken.

  So he just loved her quietly, easily, standing by her side proudly when she took over SI and when she was shamed for her open bisexuality and promiscuity.

  It would take more than tabloids and media to tear him away from her.

 

* * *

 

  Loving Toni was frightening.

  Rhodey felt sure his heart was in a constant state of overdrive every second of the three months that she was missing. He barely ate, barely slept, his mind and body thrumming with a constant rush of panic. It was simple: if he lost Toni, he’d lose himself.

  And then, they finally found her. Dirty, bruised and tired, with a glowing blue time bomb in her chest, she was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.

  And then she was Iron Woman and the fear came back.

 

* * *

 

  Loving Toni was frustrating.

  Rhodey had never felt more tired or angry than when she decided to announce her address to the world, raging guilt burning in her eyes and a vicious need for revenge spilling from her lips in the form of vitriol.

  And then she was gone, disappearing into the ocean like a rock tossed into a pond. Everyone thought she was dead. Everyone but him. He could feel it in his veins, knew, somehow, that she was out there.

  When her voice filtered through his speakers, confident and teasing as she coaxed his password out of him, he thought he’d only ever felt more relieved when he’d find her in Afghanistan.

 

* * *

 

  Loving Toni was heart-breaking.

  Rhodey didn’t know how else to describe it as he watched her give her heart and soul to the Avengers, to the Accords, to the world. He watched, helpless, as she worked herself to death, trying to keep everyone safe, trying to keep everyone happy, running purely on fear and guilt.

  For the first time, he didn’t know what to do for her, didn’t know how to help. So he took solace in the rare smiles that would temporarily mask the cracks within her, the fondness and love in her eyes whenever the Spider kid came around.

  He would owe Peter Parker for life. He brought Toni back from the brink after Siberia, found her soul and brought it back to life when even Rhodey couldn’t, which hurt more than he’d ever thought possible.

 

* * *

 

  Loving Toni was a form of art.

  They stood at the console of the spaceship together, hands twined as they stared out at the vast expanse of space, the consistent broken by the single planet, so similar to Earth in the abundance of blue.

  The silence between them was rare, but not awkward. Rhodey tapped out a message against Toni’s wrist. _You okay?_ She replied with a smile, thumb tapping over his knuckles. _I always am._

  He ignored the lie.

  The both knew how this was going to end. Someone was going to die. And given the track record, Rhodey knew who it was going to be, with no power to stop it from happening.

  No final words were exchanged. Before they walked out to bring back half the world, Toni suddenly hugged him, fingers tapping sporadically against his shoulder. _I'm sorry if I can't come back._ He tightened his embrace, one hand curling around the back of her neck to answer. _I'm sorry if I can’t save you._

 

* * *

 

  Loving Toni had always been a promise.

  Rhodey stood at the foot of the memorial, gazing up at the statue of Iron Woman, both arms straight at her side, palms level to the ground, like she was preparing for flight, with a plaque on the pedestal that read: **TONI STARK, A HERO TO ALL.**

  Toni would have both loved and hated it, just as he did.

  There was a yell of “Hi, Mr Rhodey!” and he looked up to see Spider-Man crouching on the top of a building, waving down at him in a cheerful way that belied the sadness behind the mask.

  Rhodey waved back, forcing a smile for the kid who carried a part of Toni, just as everyone who ever lived her did.

  “You and me forever, Tones,” he mumbled, looking back at the statue. “Someday.” He hesitated for a split second, but she wasn’t there to hear him anyway. “I love you.”

  As he walked away, he caught sight of a little girl, chocolate skin and wild curls, carrying textbooks way too advanced for her age, and a white rose that she placed near the plaque. As she walked away, struggling only slightly under the weight of her books, he smiled at the oddly familiar stubbornness on her face.

  Maybe Toni had heard him, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> My Tumblr: bad-days-and-beautiful-nights


End file.
